MCO/EPB graduate student Sriram “Sri” Srikant (rising G3, Murray and Gaudet Labs) received a 2013 Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Fellowship.
His research focuses on understanding the ABC transporters involved in
the secretion of mating pheromones in extant fungi. He investigates the
functional aspects of these transporters in the context of their
structural features and evolutionary history. He is particularly
interested in studying Ste6, a protein in yeast that pumps a pheromone
out of a budding yeast cell. Ste6 is also a homolog of the multidrug
pump that plays an important role in the drug resistance of many
tumors. He hopes to maintain this "holistic view of molecular machines"
throughout his career.

Sri grew up in Chennai, a metropolis in South India, and completed an
undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute
of Technology Madras (IITM). He entered the Engineering and Physical
Biology (EPB) graduate student training program at Harvard. After
finishing his rotation, joined the labs of Andrew Murray and Rachel
Gaudet in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) to
combine his long-standing interest in structural biology with his more
recent enthusiasm for cell biology and evolution. "I was thrilled to
immerse myself in the biological sciences as part of EPB and to interact
with MCB researchers with diverse perspectives in the struggle to solve
the pressing questions of biology."

"The role of the EPB track for the Harvard community is to recognize,
encourage and support talented young scientists who have the courage to
bridge disciplines across the physical/engineering and biological
sciences divide," explains Professor Nancy Kleckner, who heads the EPB
program. "Sriram exemplifies this type of young scientist. We are
delighted that his potential has been recognized by HHMI and we look
forward to his future contributions."

“It is a great honor to be awarded this prestigious fellowship from the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute,” said Sri. “Not only does the
fellowship support me financially in conducting my research, it also
provides support for me to participate in conferences to discuss my
research with other scientists. In this way it allows me to interact
with members of the scientific community and hold my work to the highest
of standards.” Outside of science, Sri collects comic books, and
relishes weekly trips to the bookstore with conversations on the latest
events in the superhero multiverse. He also enjoys reading books,
puzzles, and playing badminton and frisbee.

Professor Murray describes Sri as “brilliant, fearless, creative,
outgoing, helpful, and a stellar experimentalist” whose intelligence is
“matched by his charm and humility.”

“In our early discussions on ABC transporters, Sri got me more excited
about our work on ABC transporters than I had been in several years,”
recalled Professor Gaudet. “His engineering perspective enables him to
pose the questions from a new angle, which suggest new approaches to the
study of this important protein family.”

HHMI launched the International Student Research Fellowships Program
last year to support international students during their “make or break”
3rd to 5th years of graduate school in the United States, when they
typically find very little funding support for their studies.
International students in U.S. graduate schools are not eligible
for federal fellowships, training grant support, or other governmental
opportunities that are generally reserved for U.S. citizens. The
Institute chose to fund the 3rd to 5th years of graduate school because,
by this time, most students have chosen a graduate advisor, identified a
research project, and demonstrated their potential for success in the
lab.

You can read more about the HHMI International Student Research Fellowships Program here.

The Program in Molecules, Cells and Organisms would like to gratefully acknowledge that it is supported in part by a Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional Training Grant through the National Institutes of Health, NIGMS (T32-GM007598).

The Molecules, Cells and Organisms Program values diversity and inclusion amongst graduate students, and is proud to foster an environment that is nurturing and supportive of all students regardless of race, ethnic or cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, or disability status.